The Twitter account of respected journalist and PJ Media Washington editor Bridget Johnson was suspended a week ago.  Despite repeated efforts to discover why, Twitter has remained silent.

Paula Bolyard of PJ Media:

According to Twitter's Help Center, there are two types of suspension – a temporary timeout that results in reinstatement in a matter of hours, and a second, much more serious "permanent" suspension. Bridget's appears to be the latter. The company did not flag a particular tweet that was problematic and her request for an appeal has gone unanswered.

While many Twitter users engage in abusive behavior on the platform, Bridget does not. Nor does she brawl with other users or engage in flame wars. She's a veteran journalist who, prior to joining the PJM team, worked at The Hill, the Rocky Mountain News, and the Los Angeles Daily News. She is an NPR contributor and has also been published at USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, Politico, the New York Daily News, The Jerusalem Post, the New York Observer, The Washington Times, and RealClearWorld. Bridget is a respected terror analyst and is known for her fact-based, impartial reporting.

So why was she suspended from Twitter? That remains a mystery. Hundreds of Twitter users have tweeted their support for her, expressing their astonishment that she was summarily removed from the platform without explanation.

According to Twitter, accounts can be suspended if they are "spammy" or fake, or if they pose a security risk. They also ban "abusive tweets or behavior. " Abusive behavior, Twitter explains, includes promoting violence, suicide, self-harm, or child exploitation.

A quick perusal of cached tweets from Bridget's account demonstrates that she's not a spammer, and Twitter has not given any indication that she was removed from the platform due to security risks. So that leaves the nebulous category of "abusive tweets or behavior." Bridget doesn't engage in any of the banned behaviors, but it is possible that she was targeted by groups or individuals who reported her to administrators, hoping to silence her.

I've known Bridget for years, even before she started working for PJ Media.  There is no more non-partisan, professional journalist on either side of the divide.  The most likely explanation is that individuals or groups complained because they don't like PJ Media, and Bridget is one of the high-profile writers for the site.

Bridget doesn't rant and rave.  She doesn't call people names.  She doesn't promote conspiracy theories.  She never uses abusive, racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, anti-female language or include any other offensive content in her tweets or her articles.  She is every inch the professional.

That she has been banned – apparently because she is a conservative – should outrage anyone who cares about free speech.  That the left has been silent while this controversy rages speaks volumes of the left's utter contempt for liberty.